We discuss goals and strategies to ensure access to and participation in physics for young girls and women, to build confidence in their abilities as scientists, and to continue to support them via networking, mentoring, and climate assessment as they advance to more senior stages in their careers.

Launching a successful career encompasses many issues related to creating appropriate conditions for development, such as providing training and resources for research. Since the First IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics in 2002, some countries have made excellent progress on some issues, but overall results are mixed. Discussions focused on developing SMART (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed) recommendations, and on spreading the word about proven successful approaches and practices implemented in some countries and institutions. Recommendations include a call for increased networking at all levels, suggestions for national physical societies and employers, personal development training for women physicists, and advice for individuals.

The underrepresentation of women among physicists around the world, especially in leadership positions, has broad implications for industries and government agencies with a strong need for a technologically educated workforce. The dearth of women physicists in academia exacerbates the situation in that female students lack exposure to successful women in the field. Three years ago, an international group of women met for a round table discussion at the First IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics and discussed the importance of having women in leadership positions. They shared their experiences and successes, and drew up and reported a set of recommendations addressing the preparation of women for leadership, the selection process, and the responsibilities of institutions. They acknowledged that implementation of their recommendations would differ among countries. At the Second IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics an international group of women met again to review, revise, and move forward on revamped recommendations from the first conference. This is a report on the new set of revamped recommendations, which address why women should be in leadership positions, goal setting, best practices, commitments, and follow‐up actions for the attendees of the second conference.

The challenges faced by women physicists to succeed in physics institutions, be they academic, research or industrial, are many. In some cases the challenges are similar across the range of institutions, cultures, and countries represented at the conference. In other cases the challenges are specific. About 30 participants identified issues, opportunities, and best practices relating to improving institutional climate and structure. Here we summarize issues and successful strategies, and present the group’s recommendations.

In essentially all countries, responsibilities for child care, cooking, cleaning, and other homemaking tasks fall predominantly on the wife and mother. In addition, the childbearing years come during the period when a physicist must study hard, work long hours on research, and take temporary positions, often abroad. Thus, balancing family and career has long been one of the major barriers to women’s participation in science and engineering fields, including physics. While many young women believe that they must choose between having children and having a science career, the fact is that the majority of women physicists in both developing and developed countries have successfully done both. This paper summarizes some ideas and recommendations raised in discussions, especially focused on easing the challenges of having children while in temporary jobs, returning to physics after a career break, the need for “family‐friendly” working conditions, and the dual‐career problem facing couples where both are scientists.

A round table discussion on research funding and its relation to women in physics was held during the Second IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics. Panelists were the director of the Office of Education, Science, and Technology of the Organization of American States; the director of Programs on Women, Science, and Technology for UNESCO; the Minister of Women for Brazil; and a professor of physics from the University of Yamanashi, Japan.

We describe the activities of the Organization of American States, and more specifically of the Office of Education, Science and Technology, in the area of gender and science and technology. The activities include fostering political dialog and establishing priorities for policies and programs in the 34 countries of the western hemisphere.

I presented results from the AIP report, Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2005 (R. Ivie and K. Nies Ray, AIP Publication Number R‐430.02, www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/women05.pdf), which was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Compared with other scientific fields, women are very underrepresented in physics, although their representation has increased in the last 30 years. By 2003, women earned 18% of the physics degrees in the United States, which is a record high. In 2003, women earned 26% of the PhDs in astronomy. However, minority women (African‐American and Hispanic) receive very few physics and astronomy degrees in the U.S. Also troubling is the salary gap between men’s and women’s salaries in physics and related fields. Even within the same employment sector and controlling for years since degree, women earn 5% less than men. The percentage of newly hired part‐time faculty who are women is higher than the percentages hired into tenured and tenure‐track positions. Many women take physics in high school, but a smaller percentage take the Advanced Placement physics exams, and an even smaller percentage earn physics bachelor’s degrees. However, once women have earned a bachelor’s degree in physics, they are able to persist in academic careers. In fact, our data show that women are represented on physics and astronomy faculties at about the rates we would expect given degree production in the past. Finally, women’s representation in physics varies across countries, documenting the influence of social and cultural factors on the representation of women in science.

Since the First IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics (Paris, 2002), there have been numerous developments for women in physics within the UK. The main thrust has been from the UK Institute of Physics, whose initiatives have been in parallel with national progress for women in science, engineering, and technology (SET). The Institute is seen as being at the forefront of developments within the UK professional bodies. The question is posed whether we are close to a position where SET is “fair” for women in physics.

The 2005 Chair of the American Physical Society Committee on the Status of Women in Physics describes the committee’s recent activities to recognize distinguished women physicists, improve the climate for women in physics, and provide leadership training for women in physics. The committee’s response to the Harvard University president’s suggestion of innate gender differences as regards women’s representation in math and science is also discussed, as well as some encouraging developments in the status of women in physics in the U.S.

The 2005 L’ORÉAL‐UNESCO award for women in physics recognized Zohra Ben Lakhdar’s contributions to research in Tunisia. But when Professor Ben Lakhdar was a young girl in 1950s Tunisia, girls did not go to school beyond the elementary grades, and she found herself under the tutelage of her mother learning how to take care of a family and home. Tunisia’s independence in 1956 changed that, and Professor Ben Lakhdar soon became the only girl in an all‐boys’ college. In 1978 when she returned to Tunisia after earning her PhD in Paris, fewer than 10 Tunisians were doing research. But the number of students in the country was increasing and trained teachers were needed. Developing the capability to do research in Tunisia was urgent. So Professor Ben Lakhdar built a research laboratory in Tunisia. This paper tells the story.

With the tremendous growth in China’s economy, young people now enjoy a much wider choice of careers; but women are also beginning to face new challenges, such as discrimination in employment and retirement policies. The ratio of women in physics in universities has remained more or less constant, but that in research institutes has decreased in recent years, although the ratio of young women awarded research grants seems to be on the rise. More effort must be exerted to guarantee equal opportunity for women physicists, young and old, in a rapidly changing society.

Studies of symmetries and the consequences of breaking them have led to deeper understanding in many areas of science. The high‐temperature superconductors, discovered in 1986, motivated an unprecedented worldwide flurry of research, not only because applications are promising, but because they also represent a new state of matter that breaks certain fundamental symmetries. In this narrative for nonspecialists, we provide a general background on broken symmetries and superconductivity. Then we show how planar tunneling spectroscopy can detect the broken symmetries of gauge (superconductivity), reflection (d‐wave superconducting order parameter), and time‐reversal (ferromagnetism).